A woman in her 60s has been confirmed as the second human West Nile virus case in Massachusetts this year, the state health department announced Wednesday.

The woman was exposed to the mosquito-borne virus in Essex County, the Department of Public Health said in a press release .

Massachusetts’ first human West Nile virus case of the year was announced just a day prior. A woman in her 70s was exposed to the virus in Middlesex County, the health department said previously.

As a result of the two cases and ongoing tracking of West Nile virus in local mosquito populations, state officials have raised the West Nile virus risk level to high in Belmont, Cambridge, Everett, Malden, Melrose, Revere, Saugus, Somerville, Wakefield and Watertown, the health department said.

The West Nile viru

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